


Close My Eyes And Leap

by berryblonde



Series: DBH Rarepair Week [5]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, First Kiss, M/M, Theater AU, This is super self-indulgent, Wicked (Musical) is mentioned a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 18:28:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17647676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/berryblonde/pseuds/berryblonde
Summary: Gavin agrees to help out as a stage-hand at his brother's production of the musical "Wicked" and promptly finds himself interested in the cute actor that plays Fiyero.





	Close My Eyes And Leap

**Author's Note:**

> This is so self-indulgent because I love Wicked so much i'm not even sorry  
> You don't really need to know anything about the play tbh, it's more of a background thing, but after my last literature and theater class (in which I spoke Lady Macbeth) i've been desperately needing a theater au. So there. Hope you enjoy!

_ “Kill the witch!” _

Gavin almost cringed at the voice shouting on stage, watching amusedly as his brother stopped the music and berated the poor actor — a guy named Simon (or Simeon?) — on his delivery.

Oh the things he did for Elijah. When one of his stage hands got sick, Gavin had agreed to help out, even if only after being bribed with the promise of free food at the theater and the knowledge that his brother owed him one now.

The theater his brother usually directed at was small, the cast a bunch of hobby actors, some good some less so in Gavin’s humble (or not so humble after three beers) and uneducated opinion.

He hadn’t had anything to do with acting since college, and even then he had only ever had small roles or been the back-up that they never ended up needing. Not that he minded, it had been more of a thing that his then boyfriend had roped him into, but he had had fun still.

Maybe that was why he had actually agreed. That, the food and the prospect of watching a bunch of amateur actors practice. It was just as funny as he had expected, especially now, in the very early stages of the play, with actors constantly messing up lines and forgetting their cues.

Though he did have a hard time keeping together the actors names and their corresponding roles, save a few exceptions. Namely, Chloe, his brother’s long-time girlfriend whom he had met through one of his productions, North, the scary-looking woman who was playing the female lead and was probably the most talented of the bunch, who transformed into a shy, hopeful, sad, angry, confident and tragic Elphaba, depending on the scene. Despite (or maybe exactly because of) her bluntness off stage, they had clicked right away.

And then there was Connor. Connor with his sweet smile and doe eyes, who had managed to land the role of Fiyero with ease, whose technique was on point even though his acting sometimes lacked that extra something North had, especially during their first few attempts.

Not that that hindered him from enjoying the young man’s performances. They were still a joy to watch, and him and North had a great chemistry despite the fact that North was taken by not just one, but two boyfriends. One of them being dear old Moq (or Boq? Gavin should really look into the play some more.), and the other not part of their little group and only occasionally dropping by to support his partners. It was sweet, really. If Gavin didn’t hate sweet so much.

He didn’t  _ actually _ despite it. Their happiness just made him overly aware of the fact that he was still single.

With a sigh, he hung one of the costumes onto racks again before sitting down on a grave prop as the music resumed and the March Of The Witch Hunters finished off and everyone left the stage, the little girl who played the lion running straight into her mother’s arms.

The rest of the play washed over Gavin and he only ever got up from where he had made himself comfortable when props needed to be moved or a scene changed, brushing past Connor, as of now without costume and simply in his casual but smart attire, a script in his hand.

What might have looked dorky on someone else looked absolutely gorgeous on him and Gavin didn’t know whether he appreciated or despised the fact.

Once the play concluded with Connor and North leaving the room hand in hand and Chloe as Glinda ending her final speech Gavin jumped to his feet, watching as the group of actors gathered around his brother to review their performance of the various scenes and what still needed to be worked on.

With a sigh he began cleaning up requisites and props, moving them back to their designated area before joining the crowd in front of Elijah.

“— was fantastic! But do not believe that this means you can rest already, my dear North.” Gavin heard his brother say as he and the other stage hands, most of whom he still didn’t know the names of, mingled amongst the actors. He immediately felt himself unable to resist rolling his eyes.

“Ah, our trusty stage crew! I know you haven’t been needed  _ too _ much as of yet, but that will no doubt change soon. Those transitions need to be much, much faster, but we can work on that. Just make sure to move things to the proper exists please once you remove them from stage, otherwise you’re blocking our poor actors’ ways,” he chastised, looking directly at Gavin who felt the heat in his cheeks rise immediately, angrily glaring at his brother for calling him out like this.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Connor smiling at him encouragingly, and he was absolutely sure the red in his cheeks only got worse as his heart skipped a beat.

Elijah raised an eyebrow, clearly waiting for something.

“Yeah, yeah,” Gavin conceded. “I’m sorry and shit.”

“Now that that’s settled, I think we can all take a break until next week. Stage crew, please finish cleaning up a bit and putting all the props back where they belong, please and thank you!” He chimed, smiling before waving them all good-bye.

“Gavin, I trust that you’ll lock up the building?”

“Will do, fucker.”

“Thank you.”

With that, Elijah disappeared out of the door, Chloe following right behind him and all Gavin could do was shake is head. Oh, the things he did for Elijah.

Behind the curtains there was shuffling to be heard and he moved back to where he was supposed to be anyways, helping Ralph (at least he thought it was Ralph) and Adam with the various desks and chairs needed for the classroom scene.

He was humming along to one of the songs of the play, and who could blame him, they were catchy, when someone tapped his shoulder from behind and Gavin spun around, only to discover a sheepish-looking Connor standing in front of him.

“Oh? You’re still here?” Gavin asked, and only seconds later he realized how much it sounded like he was displeased about it. Connor didn’t seem to notice it, however, or simply chose to ignore it, and nodded.

“Yes. I chose to stay behind to rehearse some of my lines, but realized I couldn’t do it on my own. Hank left already, so I thought I could ask you? I’m truly sorry if this is overstepping any boundaries,” he concluded, not looking Gavin in the eyes.

“Once you’re done with the props, of course,” he added, smiling a bit.

“Sure, I can do lines,” Gavin replied, running a hand through his hair before realizing that there was probably a lot of dirt and dust on his fingers and making a grimace. “Though it’s been years since I’ve acted anything, the last time was during my college’s rendition of Macb—”

“Gavin!” Connor exclaimed, quickly putting a hand over Gavin’s mouth.

“Don’t!”

“Don’t— what?”

“You can’t just say the name of the Scottish play in a theater,” Connor told him with a serious expression on his face, slowly removing his hands from Gavin’s red face.

“You don’t want to end up being cursed, now do you?”

“N-not really, no.”

“See. But thank you for offering to rehearse with me.”

“I, uh, I should be done here in a sec, just wait over there, ‘kay?” He asked of Connor, pointing towards a relatively spacey corner of the stuffed backstage area.

Connor nodded and Gavin went to finish up his work, almost giddy with excitement.

This wasn’t anything special, he tried to reason with himself, no matter how much he was looking forward to practicing Connor’s lines with the young actor.

Which in and of itself felt pretty silly.

He cleaned up the last few props in record time and said goodbye to the rest of the stage crew before strolling over to where Connor was already waiting, quietly singing one of the songs— Gavin couldn’t quite make out which one it was— to himself.

“So? Which of the scenes do you need help with?”

~

Practicing lines together slowly but surely became a routine for them, Gavin clumsily taking on the roles of Glinda, Elphaba, Boq and more, sometimes all in one scene, trying to help Connor as best as he could when he struggled. The young man seemed to work out those scenes best once he knew  _ how _ to portray them and they slowly but surely began making progress towards Connor being the best Fiyero anyone had ever seen, at least in Gavin’s opinion.

And he doubted his opinion as someone who had never had anything to do with the play before was worth all that much. And maybe, just maybe, he was slightly biased towards Connor.

Much to Gavin’s delight they soon started to not only rehearse once the big practices were over, but to simply get to know each other, and he noticed that he enjoyed learning about Connor a great deal, falling more and more for the brilliant young man who was actually working forensics expert in another precinct together with his adoptive father, Hank, and had been playing theater ever since high school. Who adored dogs above all else but also loved cats, for the soft smile he always smiled whenever Gavin showed him pictures of Gilbert or Nugget on his phone, for the excited glimmer in his eyes whenever he talked about something he was invested in, such as the play.

And soon Gavin knew it by heart and could sing along to almost all of the songs, his heart jumping in his chest whenever Connor’s eyes lit up in response to Gavin quoting a line from it.

The closer their first show approached the more Connor seemed to grow into his role, flawlessly delivering lines and putting in so much emotion that sometimes Gavin even had the illusion that Connor was speaking directly to the audience, to  _ him _ , not simply acting with North, and he couldn’t even deny how much it made his heart flutter, enough for him to miss his cue to clear the stage more than once because he had been distracted thinking of Connor and only realized when Chris nudged his and basically dragged him to do his work.

Around 6 p.m., an hour before their opening night started, Elijah was running around like a nervous chicken on LSD and Connor was no where to be found.  North and Chloe were still getting ready putting their make-up on, especially the former always had to sit and let someone squash around a sponge in her face for ages before she was ready. Wasn’t easy being green after all.

Connor’s costume was already gone from the rack, Gavin noticed as he started looking for the young man, partially to calm his poor brother’s nerves and partially out of worry for the actor.

The lights in the theater were dimmed down slightly already, everyone who was ready had beginning to join Elijah in their ridiculous warm-up routine that Gavin always cackled about. He really needed to find the other soon or his brother would go crazy, he thought as he watched Elijah’s wide gestures on the curtain-clad stage.

Eventually, he discovered Connor sitting alone in an empty Corner of the building, hands clutched tight around a script, appearing to be reading through it with great nervousness.

“Connor?” Gavin asked as he approached him.

Like a deer caught in headlights the young actor glanced up and stared at him with big eyes, face pale.

“I’m— yes, I’m fine,” he replied, clearly everything but  _ fine _ .

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Connor, I’m not blind. What’s bothering you?”

Silence engulfed them as Gavin dropped down into the floor next to him, sitting cross-legged and waiting for Connor to respond.

“I’m nervous,” he eventually broke the silence after a while, not looking at Gavin.

“What if I mess up? Or forget my lines? Hank always tells me I won’t but— I simply can’t shake the thought.”

“Connor.” Gavin carefully placed one of his hands on Connor’s knee. “You practiced just as hard, scratch that, you practiced a lot harder than everyone else here, hell, you stayed late almost each time just to go over your lines.

And even if ya mess up, who cares? I know you do some great improv if anything happens, and no one will fucking notice. Seriously, Con. And if anything happens, I’m right behind the stage to help you calm your nerves and encourage you to show the world the wicked talent you have,” he told him with a small grin at the end, pleased with his pun and even more so when Connor let out a small laugh.

“Thank you, Gavin, I’ll take you up on that.”

“Don’t worry, man, you got this. And if you’re scared, just remember my wonderful Glinda impression, that’ll make you laugh for sure.”

It did, and Connor chuckled again.

“You’d make a wonderful Glinda, Gavin. I— I really enjoyed practicing with you,” he said softly, slowly getting to his feet.

“Me too,” Gavin replied as he let Connor pull him up, well aware of their sudden proximity.

“I should get going, but…”

“But…?”

“But I think I’ll need an additional token for good luck,” Connor smiled, cheeks tinted red, hand still holding onto Gavin’s.

“Whatever you need, Con,” Gavin whispered, leaning in ever so slightly.

Without another word Connor closed the distance between them and pressed a kiss onto his lips, soft and chaste, but a small promise of more between them as Gavin smiled into the kiss before bringing up his free hand and snaking it around Connor’s waist, pulling him closer.

When they parted for air, neither could keep the smiles off their faces.

“Now go out there and put on the best show anyone has ever seen!” Gavin grinned at him, reluctantly letting him go, watching him nod and disappear back to his place behind the stage, smiling like a dork and heart pounding at his chest.

After this is over tonight he’d ask him out, Gavin promised himself. Connor wasn’t someone he could just let slip through his fingers.

With a small shake of his head he rejoined the rest of the stage crew, and maybe he was biased, maybe he was delusional, but he could swear that Connor was glancing at him ever so often during the most romantic scenes of the play, a promise in his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhh I hope you guys enjoyed this one! Feel free to drop by and talk to me on tumblr [@unacceptable-bisexual](https://unacceptable-bisexual.tumblr.com)! I'm always happy to hear from you guys <3


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